Courtesy of Kurt Barickman from Albert
Lea, MN who befriended Eldon and was asked to write down the story.
Kurt did so and after many interviews and rewritings, Eldon agreed that the
story was good and accurate.
The story gives a good description of how life was for the average trooperEnjoy the words of Eldon.

Eldon Abrahamsen is a native of Askov Minnesota and was born there in May
10, 1925.
On Dec. 7th, 1941 Eldon was attending basketball practice that fateful Sunday
afternoon. Upon hearing the news of the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor, Eldon remarked that this event "changed his life entirely."
He finished his junior year of high school at Askov and helped with the fall
harvest. Eldon wanted to run away from home to join the military and set his
suitcase in a field near his home to aid his flight. He believed that his
Father saw him hide the case and they spoke about his intentions. Eldon told
his Father that he was going to Grand Rapids High School for his senior year
and graduate early and then join the army. His Father was reluctant to let
him sign-up, but told Eldon that it would be a good idea for him to finish
high school at Grand Rapids and gave his permission.

In April of 1943 at age
17, Eldon joined the army and went to basic training at Camp Roberts CA. Boot
Camp lasted 16 weeks and it was "hot, dry and miserable." Eldon was trained
to use a variety of weapons and learned some valuable lessons about keeping
close to the ground when being fired upon and the use of grenades. During
boot camp, two fellow Minnesotans Smith from Cloquet and Finlayson from Minneapolis
became acquainted with Eldon. Smith encouraged Eldon to sign up for the airborne
or in other words, become a paratrooper and Finlayson tried to talk him out
of the idea. Smith had been really pushing Eldon to sign up and then ironically
Smith was not allowed to volunteer for jump school because he wore glasses.
Eldon mused that because of their encouragement he was now on a train to Fort
Benning GA and was still not sure what the paratroopers were although he had
just volunteered to become one.

At Fort Benning Georgia,
Eldon became familiar with the "Frying Pan." The first phase of jump school
was heavy physical training. On his first day at Benning, Eldon watched an
officer tell a trainee to do 50 pushups that he promptly did. The trooper
then stood up to leave whereupon the officer said, do 50 more pushups for
not saluting afterwards. Eldon became used to running and push-ups because
he did them all the time. On one occasion, Eldon was told to do 50 pushups
and then do 50 more. During a five mile run, Eldon spoke to another trooper
running along side him and as a result was ordered to drop out and do 50 push-ups.
He also remembers seeing an officer in jump school being forced to do push-ups
in a sawdust pit. When the officer doing the pushups spit in the sawdust,
the instructor made him run around continually saying, "I will not spit in
the sawdust." On another occasion, the men were forced to hold their arms
out and do small circles with their arms. Eldon's arms hurt so badly the next
day that he had to use one arm to hold the other arm up to retrieve and light
a cigarette.

The other aspect to jump
school was actually learning how to jump from a plane with a parachute successfully.
Although Eldon professed to being "scared of heights" here he was planning
to jump out of airplanes. The first phase was learning to roll and tumble
correctly in a variety of exercises. Eldon stated that he should have changed
his last name as Abrahamsen was always called first to do the various stages
of training. In preparation for jumping, trainees were hoisted up to 250-foot
high towers with a buddy and dropped with a parachute attached to guide wires.
Trainees also wore parachutes and were placed in front of large fans that
blew them across the ground. This training was supposed to teach the men how
to collapse their chutes. Instructors also had the trainees drop out of the
towers in parachutes. They dropped pieces of paper to discern the wind direction
so that the parachutists could steer their parachutes away from the towers.
Also shacks were built on four, 40-foot high poles, which were to simulate
the doors that paratroopers had to stand in on planes. Climbing rickety ladders
to the shacks was intimidating to Eldon due to his fear of heights. From these
poles, troopers were in their parachute harnesses, which were attached to
lines, and they were to slide down the lines that led to sawdust piles.

One day Eldon was waiting
to use the phone at Fort Benning. He overheard a conversation that the trooper
ahead of him was having on the telephone. Eldon knew the story that the man
on the phone was relating because it was originated from his area of Minnesota.
The conversation was about a young Minnesotan that had mass-murdered his family
and it became quite infamous tale in the Askov area. When this trooper hung
up the phone, Eldon approached him and soon found out that this man was from
a town nearby Askov, Hinckley. The trooper's name was Pvt. Eugene Gaukel.

After the simulated parachute
drops, trainees had to make five real parachute drops to earn the coveted
airborne wings. Paratroopers were taught to pack their own parachutes and
they had to use them on their jumps. Eldon believed this was a big incentive
to pack the parachute correctly. One of these five parachute drops must be
a night jump. Eldon remembers the first training drop was really easy yet
the other four were not. His first words upon the opening of the parachute
were "what the hell is there to being a paratrooper?" On the remaining four
drops he felt the jarring effects of the propeller blast which violently opened
the parachutes. On his first drop, the trooper behind Eldon was Eddie Albert.
Eddie as a broad, Native-American from Washington State. Eldon asked Eddie
what if I don't jump? Eddie smiled and told Eldon not worry because you will
go out the door. During another practice jump, he looked up at his chute and
noticed that another trooper from Texas was actually walking across the top
of his parachute. Eldon began to move his parachute around and as a result
a training officer on the ground was yelling at him to stop "slipping." Both
Eldon and the "walker" landed unharmed although Eldon's body hurt all over.
When they both hit the ground the lieutenant continued berating Eldon for
slipping on the jump. Eldon was thankful that no bones were broken and asked
the "parachute walker" who was named Anderson from Texas what he was doing?
Anderson responded, "Hi Abe, guess we made it again." During a later practice
jump in Alabama, Eldon's parachute was oscillating and he hit the ground backward
on his heels and hit his head. He lay on the ground-watching overhead as the
other paratrooper's parachutes violently opened due to the prop blast.

After Eldon earned his
paratrooper's wings, he attended the parachute Rigger School at Fort Benning.
Training centered- around working with parachutes and learning how to drop
cargo chutes on targets from an airplane. During the last week of the school,
he was asked by an officer to forgo his furlough home after completion of
the school and go directly overseas. Eldon agreed to this idea, as he was
eager to "get into the war." Later that same day, he was again ordered to
the Rigger School office and was asked the same question again by the same
officer. Eldon responded with the same answer as he had earlier in the day.
He was curious why they asked him twice and the officer responded that he
was the only one to voluntarily refuse his furlough and they just wanted to
make sure that he really meant it. Eldon's friends were upset that he had
done this and two of his Mexican-American friends actually cried. He is not
sure whether these two survived the war.

As a result, Eldon went
by train to Fort Meade MD and from there to New York City to await transfer
by ship to Great Britain. He did one thing that he had always wanted to do
in NYC and that was to go Jack Dempsey's Bar. The house bought Eldon and the
parachute walker, Anderson a drink. Eldon and other airborne men shipped out
of Brooklyn to Ireland. He was seasick the entire, long trip across the Atlantic
and in Eldon's words it was, "the most miserable time of my life." Only when
he lay flat on his back in his bunk was life tolerable. Eldon only went to
the mess decks once and when the food was placed upon his tray, he barely
made it to the bathroom before vomiting again. He believes that he only survived
the voyage because friends brought candy bars to him in his bunk. Their troop
ship was part of a large convoy escorted by destroyers. Depth charges were
dropped daily and Eldon wondered if a German torpedo would sink the ship before
they went into combat. One older fellow remarked that they would be lucky
if they survived and if they did, they would not go home at least for two
years. Eldon did not believe the 25-year-old trooper's predictions but the
prediction proved accurate.

When the ship finally
landed in Ireland, Eldon remarked that the "land looked good." Eldon ate his
first real meal in 12-14 days and soon was "back on his feet." While in Ireland,
Eldon had several passes to Belfast. During one of these leaves, Eldon and
friends visited a castle with many stairs and high turrets, which impressed
him. While touring the castle, Eldon and another friend met two beautiful
"Irish lasses." One of the girls had lived in the US and as a result Eldon
found her speech easier to understand. The two girls told the paratroopers
that they had to make a short delivery and invited them along. The American
girl left Eldon and her friend in a park while she made the delivery. He was
shocked by how "strongly" the young woman "came onto him," especially since
Eldon was supposed to be with her friend. He felt relieved when the American
girl returned although Eldon had enjoyed the visit and thought that overseas
duty might not be as dangerous as he previously believed.

After two to three weeks
in Ireland, the paratroopers arrived in England. In February of 1944, he arrived
in the small village of Chilton Foliat near Hungerford and lived in a Quonset
hut. Eldon was then assigned to "I" Company of the 502 Parachute Infantry
Regiment attached to the 101st Airborne Division. The first day at the hut,
Eldon met a man nicknamed "Ketch." This large man in the squad quickly announced
to the rest that Eldon would be his assistant machine gunner. Eldon believed
he was chosen because he was so "big and strong." Shortly thereafter, another
man joined Eldon's squad and ironically it was Eugene Gaukel; the paratrooper
that Eldon had overheard on the phone in the US.

Life in the Quonset huts
was cramped and cold. Coal was used to warm, as the temperature was cold at
night. Bunks were used to sleep on and mattresses were filled with straw.
Toilets and showers were located in separate buildings and latrines were "honey
buckets" that were collected and dumped on neighboring fields for fertilizer.
Living in such cramped quarters required diplomacy on the part of all the
inhabitants.

Eldon's bunkmate was
Cornelius Owens who was a "very funny" man who would make faces beyond description.
Owens was well respected and considered among the squad members to be kind
and honest. Walter Kweicinski (Ketch) met Eldon many times throughout the
exploits of the 101st. He was about 10 years older than Eldon and was physically
large and strong. Ketch's sidekick was Tony Mastrolillo, they made an unusual
pair according to Eldon; Ketch was over six feet tall and Mastrolillo was
around five and ½ feet. Ed Smith was another friend of Eldon's; very quiet
and in excellent physical shape. Bill Greene was from Georgia and Eldon considered
him a "neat" person and "good trooper." He and Eldon were together in many
difficult combat situations together. "I" Company's commander was Capt. Ivan
Hershner. He was physically large, fair complexion and Eldon considered him
a "father figure." The 502 Third Battalion commander was LtCol. Robert Cole.
Eldon admired and respected him as well. Eldon believes the reason he respected
these men so much was that he was so young and they were older.

In May of 1944, the entire
101st Airborne did a practice jump at night. This was in preparation for the
real thing the next month. According to Eldon, the practice went "fairly well."
In England, Eldon discovered that another fellow Askov native, Werner Lunde
was also in the 502 in "A" Company. While in Hungerford on some Sundays, Lunde
came up to find Eldon and they would proceed into town to taste ale at the
local pub. On one Sunday, Eldon and Werner proceeded back to camp at dusk
and were throwing rocks at pheasants as they walked back. Werner was ahead
of Eldon and a jeep pulled up and Eldon watched from behind. An officer in
the jeep was playing games with Werner, asking him if he could see the star
on his jeep? To which Werner replied, "yes sir!" The officer then queried
Lunde whether he believed he could see a tank in combat? The officer in the
jeep was none other than General Maxwell Taylor, the commanding officer of
entire 101st Airborne Division. Interestingly enough in Holland, Lunde was
walking around dusk with two attractive Dutch girls when again ironically
General Taylor again drove up in a jeep. He asked Lunde what unit he was from
and then drove off. Taylor drove a short way and then turned around and personally
drove Lunde back to "A" company. The joke was that if the war had lasted any
longer, Werner Lunde and General Taylor would have become great friends.

Eldon met with Lunde
once more before D-Day and they wished each other well. Both laughed and joked
about what would happen on D-Day and both Minnesotans put on, "false faces."
Another Askov boy was in the 101st, Sven Christensen was with the 506th PIR
in another area. He came to visit Eldon because he was unable to find Lunde.
Eldon said that Sven was "down" and made many promises about what he would
do for his parents after the war. Before Christensen left, he borrowed $10
from Eldon and that was the last time Eldon saw him until after the war.

Just prior to D-Day,
the entire 101st made a practice night jump and it went off quite well according
to Eldon. The 101st was moved from Hungerford to the marshalling areas just
prior to D-Day. The troopers were sectioned off from the English civilians
for fear of intelligence leaks. Here they sharpened their jump knives, blackened
their faces and Eldon cleaned his M-1 Garand rifle and prayed silently. General
Dwight Eisenhower came out and met and shook hands with many of the paratroopers
of the 101st on June 5th. He was aware that casualties were expected to be
heavy on this night drop. Much to Eldon's surprise, Ike shook hands with him
and inquired about his age, weight and finally wished him luck. Then Item's
Company Commander, Captain Ivan Hershner spoke to his company. He told the
men that everything will be fine and if you are wounded you will be taken
care of. If you are killed, then your worries are over. The troopers helped
each other with their large amounts of equipment for the drop and waddled
onto the waiting C-47 planes for their rendezvous with destiny. Eldon's plane
rumbled down the runway and touched down three times before it was able to
lift-off and he felt a sense of relief when the plane finally went airborne.

Over the English Channel,
Eldon thought it looked like a giant parking lot with hundreds of ships on
it. Once over the Channel Islands, heavy flak began and Eldon felt like a
"sitting duck" as the tracers were only a "fraction" of the bullets aimed
at them. Eldon was anxious to jump, as he was sick of being a target. The
jumpmaster finally told them to jump at 12:56 AM and although he believed
the plane was only approximately 300-400 feet above French soil, the trip
down "seemed like forever." Eldon was the target of many tracers during his
descent and he wondered as he was hanging from his parachute, "how many holes
he would have in him."

Eldon was not too far
off from his intended drop zone and landed in the vicinity of the French town
of St. Mere Eglise. He feared landing in water, as he could not swim very
well. Ironically, Eldon did land in water and was scared although he stood
up and it was only knee deep. One horse and six cows were in the field Eldon
landed in. The field was approximately 5-6 acres with hedgerows bordering
the field. Being a farm boy from Minnesota, Eldon could not help but think
about his fate with these wild animals. He thought about the headlines in
the Askov newspaper, 'Local Boy Trampled to Death in Normandy.' As he was
struggling out of his harness and cutting himself out of his lines with his
switchblade, a C-47 crashed across the next hedgerow. Once free of his harness,
Eldon orientated himself to his surroundings and quickly found another trooper
from his stick, Ed Smith from TX. Eldon found Ed to be a "bloody mess" as
he had been hit in the chin and was stunned.

The two began to move
across the field and they heard what was the "worst scream either of them
had ever heard." What they discovered later was a paratrooper's parachute
had been caught in a tree and he was swinging in his harness. The Germans
had disemboweled the paratrooper with knives in his defenseless state, swinging
in his harness. Soon Ed and Eldon heard someone walking through water. Eldon
snapped his cricket in hopes of hearing the correct friendly reply from the
direction of the noise. What they found was Cornelius Owens AKA "Stinky" from
Brooklyn walking out of the chest deep water holding his M1 over his head
and "swearing."

The two continued their
movement across the field, now joined by Owens they crossed a hedgerow and
came onto a dirt road. As they stood by the edge of the road, the trio heard
the sound of horses coming down the road towards them. Prior to the drop that
night, the 101st troopers had been warned of possible German cavalry units
amid the intended drop zones. As the galloping neared, the troopers shot the
horse without a rider as its dead body slid down the road towards the three.

As night continued and
other hedgerows were crossed, Owens was split up from the other two. As Eldon
and Ed were nearing a town, they began to receive fire. After several rounds
the pair perceived the shots originated from a nearby town's church spire.
After the German had taken another shot, the pair both opened up on him and
shot him. The two then crossed the hedgerow and walked towards the church
and as they did, the priest came out of the church and gave them each a bottle
of wine. The priest was overjoyed to see Americans as firing was heard in
the distance. The two pointed the priest in the direction of the church and
they moved out across another hedgerow.

The rest of early D-Day
morning prior to dawn was spent evading larger groups of Germans and attacking
smaller numbers. As the group moved on to their objective the causeway, Eldon's
group continued to attack and drive back groups of Germans and many thoughts
were in their minds. Especially that each step could be their last one. It
was either kill or be killed. Many groups of Germans were caught between the
paratroopers and the seaborne troops. Eldon vividly remembers the sight of
the German and American dead and also the dead cattle.

When dawn finally arrived,
Eldon was reunited with most of his company that survived the night. As dawn
neared, Allied bombers continued to drop bombs inland on German positions.
Eldon saw one B-17 at around 10-15 thousand feet hit by German flak and hit
the ground. Only one parachute was seen from the crew of ten members. Eldon
remembers seeing his company commander, Capt. Ivan Hershner riding a horse
as his leg was broken on the drop. He along with the regimental commander
returned to England as Col. George van Horn Moseley had also broken his leg
during the night jump.

The night of June 6th,
Eldon and Eugene Gaukel were on a night outpost in a cemetery near the town
of St. Come du Mont. By now, the two had not slept in almost 40 hours so the
two of them took turns sleeping and as a dawn arrived, they found themselves
surrounded by both living and dead cows. Several cows were bloated and on
their backs with their feet sticking straight up in the air. A French farmer
ventured out from his house and began to milk the living cows. Eldon asked
the farmer if he could have some of the fresh milk and he filled his canteen
cup. "What else could the farmer do, I had a gun?" As the two remained in
their cemetery outpost, no Germans approached but a rider on a draft horse
did. The rider was a young French girl with her dress hiked high up her thigh.
This was enough to energize Eldon's tired hormones. The girl motioned for
him to follow her and Eldon refuses to detail what happened in this encounter.

The two were relieved
shortly after this encounter and rejoined the platoon. The next day was spent
advancing and engaging in several firefights and the platoon lost two men.
The following night, June 7th was the "blackest night ever" according to Eldon.
1st Lt. John Painschab selected 6 men for a patrol the next morning, among
the six were Eldon and Eugene. It was so black that the patrol decided that
signals would be needed to maintain contact. The signal was light raps on
the butts of their rifles. The night was uneventful and the patrol was glad
as dawn arrived.

They were still near St.
Come du Mont and as they crossed a field, the patrol noted an opening on the
right side of the hedgerow the patrol was approaching. As they crossed the
field, a German arose from the field and ran through the hole in the hedgerow
and the patrol chased him into the next field. As the seven passed through
the opening the Germans in the field opened fire on the patrol. The fire was
heavy and Eldon and Eugene were on the left of the line the patrol formed
to return fire. One German in particular was firing at the two and they both
"nailed him."

Lt. Painschab asked for
an orange smoke grenade to be thrown to indicate friendly troops. Eldon responded
by throwing one but forgot to take the tape off it which had been put on grenades
during the jump as a safety measure and the grenade failed to explode. He
crouched and ran out into the field and retrieved it. During this firefight,
a German mortar round exploded between Eugene and Eldon and luckily only blew
their helmets off.

The patrol members then
drew straws to decide who would run back through German fire to go through
the hedgerow opening and get reinforcements. Bill Green was the winner and
began towards the opening and would drop periodically. Although the situation
was deadly serious, the patrol could not help but laugh at Bill's running
because it reminded them of a cartoon. As Bill would run and then drop, machine
gun bullets would hit behind him and spray dirt. Bill eventually made it and
returned with a light tank to help the patrol out of their dire straits.

As the tank approached,
they mistook the patrol for Germans and .50 caliber machine gun tracers from
the tank went right between the Lieutenant's legs but Painschab was unharmed.
The tank commander's hatch on the tank was open and a German mortar shell
dropped right in the hatch, which killed the crew. Painschab's patrol retreated
back towards St. Comte Dumont.

As "I" Company began
its movement towards its objective Carentan, two of the 502's companies crossed
paths at Dead Man's Corner. Aptly named according to Eldon as dead Germans
were scattered around and bloated like the dead cows he had seen earlier.
As "I" Company
marched on one road intersecting the crossroads, "A" Company was approaching
on the other road, as Eldon marched past the corner he noticed his friend
from Askov, Werner Lunde among the "A" Company men. Eldon yelled at Werner,
"Lunde, what the hell, are you still alive?" to which Werner responded, "yah,
you too?" and gave Eldon his famous grin. That was the last time Eldon would
see Lunde until after the war. Interestingly enough, Askov was the site of
a Danish enclave and both Werner and Eldon are of Danish heritage. The Danes
had originally moved to Askov from Ord Nebraska. In Ord, Eldon's parents had
"stood up" for Werner's parents when they were married many years prior.

The Third Battalion of
the 502 continued their advance towards Carentan. German mortar and artillery
fired continued to rain down upon them. The Third Battalion of which "I" Company
was one its three companies, was to move towards Carentan via a raised road
or causeway flanked by swamps and water. Germans were placed throughout the
swamp and on islands in the swamp that gave them an excellent advantage over
the 502 troopers advancing along the causeway and in the ditches. There were
five bridges that were part of the advance along the causeway. Eldon and his
squad advanced to the first bridge and he found an already dug foxhole. Eldon
and another "I" Company trooper jumped into the hole and soon found the bottom
of the hole to be "squishy." Several dead Germans in the bottom of the foxhole
caused the "squishy" feeling.

The next morning the
Third Battalion began its advance toward Carentan along the causeway. Eldon
described it as a "bitch of a day." Eldon advanced on the right side of the
causeway in the ditch, he stated that he "crawled in that goddamn ditch all
day long." Throughout the advance along the causeway, the men took rifle,
machine gun and mortar fire. At one point during the advance, the battalion
commander, LtCol. Robert Cole from San Antonio TX was right beside Eldon.
He had removed his helmet and Cole tussled his hair and asked Eldon "how it
was going?" Eldon responded fine and Cole continued on his advance and fell
into the ditch that was filled with water. Cole would win the Congressional
Medal of Honor the next day for leading a bayonet charge that broke the back
of the German defense outside of Carentan. He would be the only man from the
101st Airborne Division to win the CMOH during the Normandy campaign. Ironically,
Cole never received the award as he was killed in action during the next major
operation that the 101st Airborne was engaged in, the paratroop into Holland
in Sept. of 1944.

The advance along the
causeway was brutal for "I" Company, as half of the company became casualties.
As Eldon continued crawling along the causeway, a trooper in front of him
was hit in the thumb and the bullet traveled up his arm to his shoulder and
out his back. The trooper behind Eldon was hit next and a medic crawled to
provide first aid to him. As the medic was helping the wounded trooper, he
was hit in the forehead by a bullet. Eldon attempted to move quickly as this
position was vulnerable to German fire. Near Eldon, a Lt. was hit in the stomach
and was stripped to the waist and due to loss of blood, he was pale white.
Continuing his advance, Eldon crawled over many bodies of dead I company men.
This enraged him and Eldon vowed to kill as many Germans as possible.

As the day wore on into
nightfall, Eldon crossed what was left of the last bridge. The ground rose
in this section of the causeway and German fire increased in intensity. As
Eldon rounded another rise in the ground, a German about 6-7 feet in front
confronted him with a machine-gun ready to fire. Eldon was preparing to "blast
him" when he noticed that the German was dead as another paratrooper with
a sense of humor had propped him up. Eldon was then was hit in the leg by
machine-gun fire the same time a German Stuka dive-bomber was strafing and
dropping anti-personnel bombs on the paratroopers along the causeway. Eldon
felt for his legs and then stood up by he heard "bones crunching" and fell
down the ditch into the water. Further down the ditch was another trooper
hit in the stomach and was laying half in the water. A Sgt. passed by the
two wounded troopers and gave Eldon a shot of morphine. As Eldon felt his
legs he discovered that he had been hit with a burst of machine gun fire that
hit him in the knee, calf and ankle. As the morphine began to take effect,
Eldon felt hungry and opened a chocolate D rations and offered some to another
wounded trooper who was lying partially in the swampy water. As Eldon lay
there, he thought that he would bleed to death and then he saw Gaukel walking
along the causeway from the direction of Carentan. Eldon yelled at him for
help but he replied that he too was wounded and could not help him. Gaukel
later died from his wounds.

Two stretcher-bearers
to an aid station later evacuated Eldon to the rear. Eldon told the medics
that he was not good but to take the other wounded trooper as he had a stomach
wound. He dozed in and out of a deep sleep and was carried back two miles
to the aid station. He was received by the 502nd regimental doctor, Blatt
and gave Eldon some blackberry brandy and put splints on both of his legs.
Eldon was then tied to the hood of a jeep and driven to the beach for evacuation
to England. He was given a canteen of coffee and then taken to the hospital
ship.

Eldon does not remember
much about the voyage across the English Channel to England. He remembers
a 82nd Airborne trooper telling him about jumping into Sicily and avoiding
injury only to be stepped on by a cow in a Norman pasture. Eldon also remembers
eating ice cream on the trip. He then awoke to find himself in a naval hospital
in South Hampton England. The hospital Eldon was in was mostly inhabited by
other wounded US airborne although there was one German paratrooper also in
the ward. The German told Eldon that he was coerced into the paratroops to
avoid discrimination to his family. The German showed Eldon a photograph of
his family and himself in uniform. A projectile in his calf, which had separated
the flesh from the bone, had hit the German. Eldon was incensed by the callous
treatment the German received in the ward.

Eldon was scheduled for
surgery in England. He remembers seeing the x-rays of his legs on the wall
although Eldon does not remember having x-rays taken. A nurse was standing
on Eldon's left and asked him to start counting as she inserted a needle.
He could not remember which number came next as he passed out from the effects
of the content of the needle. The next thing he remembers was being on a stretcher
as a nurse brought Eldon a card for his Mother's birthday. Eldon's only explanation
was that this nurse must have cared for him during surgery when "under the
effects of truth serum."

Eldon was then transported
on a medical train with bunks to a military hospital further inland England.
The train was filled with wounded GIs and Eldon remembers one of those soldiers
in particular. This soldier thought that everyone around him in the bunk beds
was the enemy and he wanted to kill everyone. He wondered what type of horror
the GI must have seen to cause that type of reaction in him. Eldon was in
no state to help and wondered what he might do unless the soldier was restrained.
He must have fell asleep as the next thing Eldon remembers is being in the
153 General Hospital.

Eldon remembers the hospital
in detail, as it was a set of Quonset huts connected by hallways. The hut
that he was in had approximately 18 beds on each side and Eldon was in the
third bed on the left from the entrance. The wounded soldier in the first
bed could maneuver himself around in a wheelchair and he and Eldon would "shoot
the bull" regularly. The wounded soldier in the wheel chair told Eldon that
being a paratrooper was "crazy" and he agreed. He asked Eldon what would happen
if you landed among a group of Germans? Eldon responded that they had a cord
on their parachute that they would pull to make them land somewhere else.
Eldon states that he acted like he believed his false story.

Eldon felt that the daily
routine in the hospital rapidly became very tiresome. He had several penicillin
shots daily and he befriended a "ward boy." Actually the ward boy was a man
approximately forty years old and was a fatherly figure to the men, very kind
and caring. One day the ward boy told Eldon unless he went to the bathroom
that day, he was going to give him an enema. Eldon was shocked when he realized
that he had not been to the bathroom in nine days! With the other ward boys'
encouragement, Eldon completed the mission and was very happy when "things
were working again."

Eldon's legs were in
wire splints, which was wrapped from his toes under his foot and heel and
up past the knees. The doctors in the ward called this, "drop foot." An attractive
physical therapist from Rochester came daily and worked on Eldon's feet. Eldon
felt that she was "old" around 30 and very dedicated and pretty, he wishes
that he had appreciated her more at the time. He remembers the day that the
therapist was pleased by the fact that Eldon was able to move one of his big
toes. Eldon was not concerned that he would never be able to move his toes
again. He attributed this carefree attitude to youth.

Eldon had still not been
able to get out of his bed since the time of him being wounded in Normandy.
When the time came to take the bandages off his wounds and the openings caused
by surgery, a doctor brought a nurse to help with this. Eldon states that
the pain associated with childbirth has been described as "unbearable." He
was in so much pain as the gauze packing and bandages were removed rapidly
that Eldon would have "hit" the doctor if possible. When they finished cleaning
the wound and putting new bandages on, they then cleaned the wounds on Eldon's
right calve and ankle. The wound on his upper right leg was rated severe as
it was 1 by 2 ½ inches in size and the peroneal nerve was damaged. The right
ankle wound was 2 ½ by 1 inches and was left open but bandaged. The flesh
on this wound had been blown away and that is why it was left open to grow
back before closing.

When the physical therapist
agreed, Eldon was able to get out of bed and use a wheelchair. He was then
transferred to another hut that was the therapy unit. He was greeted by the
physical therapist that he had worked with and she told him that she was glad
he had improved. She pointed to another patient that was walking with a stiff
leg and said that if Eldon wanted to, he too could walk like that. Eldon was
committed to regain all physical abilities he had before his wound and therapy
continued and he improved as well. He was able to regain the ability to walk
after a period of time. As he regained his strength, the nurses asked to help
with a variety of tasks. One night a GI with a head wound refused to stay
in his bed, the nurses asked Eldon to help restrain him. The nurses needed
to get some spinal fluid from him. After that, Eldon was asked to help the
nurses regularly.

Eldon's progress continued
and the doctors told him that if he had someplace to visit that he could go
and try taking care of himself for a few days. While at the therapy hut, Eldon
became acquainted with a young woman from Birmingham who volunteered at the
hospital. Eventually she came on her days off to visit Eldon. She asked Eldon
to come to her parent's house and stay as long as he liked.

Eldon rode the train
to Birmingham and she met him at the train station. They went together to
her parent's home and they treated Eldon very well. Her father made him a
stainless steel cigarette lighter like a ronson. Eldon and his friend even
had studio portraits taken in Birmingham. Eldon felt that their relationship
was becoming too serious and he described it as "suffocating." The time came
for Eldon to leave and he thanked them all for allowing him to stay but the
entire family was sad.

Eldon returned to the
hospital and was released and then transferred to the 10th replacement depot.
From there Eldon was returned to camp at Chilton Foliat; to the exact hut
he was in prior to D-Day. On Eldon's first day back, 3/502 Commander Colonel
Robert Cole and the newI/502 Company Commander visited with him about how
his wounds. Cole told Eldon that he would remain on light duty until he felt
that he could "handle regular duty." Eldon was impressed by the interest shown
by the two officers in his wounds. He only remained on light duty a few days
as Eldon requested to return to regular duty.

In late August of 1944,
the 101st was taken to marshalling areas in preparation for another parachute
jump, this time at Tournai Belgium. Eldon's new platoon leader Lt. Tyree took
him to see the doctors and had his legs inspected and bandaged. Tyree was
mad at the doctors for making Eldon go on another jump before his wounds were
healed but the commanding officer of the 101st Airborne, General Maxwell Taylor
cancelled the drop due to changes in the front.

Eldon was picked up by
ambulance and learned that he was going to be reclassified and assigned to
non-jump status. He told the doctors that there were three options; either
they could lock him up, send him home or go back to his unit. He was eventually
given jump status again and rejoined the unit. Eldon sat out the next jump
that the 101st made over Holland on Sept. 17, 1944. But returned to the unit
as they went to Mourmelon France after being pulled out of Holland at the
end of Nov. 1944.

Eldon was writing a letter
to his sister on Dec. 18, 1944 when the 101st was told of the next mission.
The Germans had attacked through thinly held American lines in the Ardennes
forest of Belgium. The 101st did not parachute jump into this battle but were
trucked in. The Screaming Eagles were to help stem the German tide and they
traveled all day and into the night from France to Bastogne Belgium.

Eldon rode in the right,
rear corner of one of these trucks and talked the entire time with Lt. Tyree.
They both spoke of their homes and their lives prior to the war. Eldon felt
that his new platoon leader was a nice person and believed that the Lt. came
to respect him because he refused to quit and carried the .30 caliber light
machine gun throughout the Ardennes campaign along with his M-1 rifle and
gear. Once their column of trucks arrived in Belgium, they unloaded and walked
several miles in the dark until they reached their positions. Th weather was
cloudy and cold and they were familiar with these positions when the fog dropped
upon their area. There were firefights with the Germans constantly but I Company
held their ground and without air support due to the weather. The Screaming
Eagles were constantly under German mortar and 88-mm.-artillery fire. Eldon
especially hated the mortar barrages because they were able to drop out of
the air into any positions no matter how well "dug in" a person was. I/502
would remain in this same area until the American counterattack in Jan. 1945.

The fog finally lifted
around Christmas and US P-47 Thunderbolt fighters strafed and bombed German
positions in front of I Company. According to Eldon, "those planes saved us
a lot of grief." Also, C-47 planes began to drop much needed supplies to the
besieged men of the 101st Airborne. Among the many supply bundles dropped
by parachutes from the planes were much needed overshoes. Eldon did not get
a pair, as boots in his size were gone quickly.

The platoon's main line
of resistance was behind the outpost which was on the far left and forward
of the rest of I company. The outpost was series of approximately 6 foxholes
that would be able to warn the rest further to the rear if a German attack
occurred. The paratroopers had salvaged a heavy .50 cal. machine gun from
a wrecked US half-track truck, which was positioned in the outpost to give
those in this forward position a good field of fire. The outpost had a telephone
line strung to it and twice when German 88 artillery shells were pounding
the outpost, Eldon was able to call for US artillery support to silence the
German cannons. Also, they called for "airbursts" from the US artillery, which
were shells that exploded in the air spewing fragments on their hapless recipients.
These silenced German snipers who were shooting at I Company troopers from
the shelter of trees. Eldon spent many days in the outpost and was also sent
on many patrols into the forest.

Eldon and one of his
friends Bruno were on many of these 3-6 man patrols. On one patrol, they heard
what sounded like a train overhead, looking up through a clearing in the trees,
Eldon instead saw it was a German "Buzz Bomb" on its way to either London
or Antwerp. The airborne bomb developed motor problems and probably never
made it to its intended target. On another patrol, Bruno spotted a German
in the distance and he swore at the German using the German language. The
German responded by swearing at Bruno in English. On one patrol on Jan. 2,
1945, the patrol went straight north several miles behind German lines to
try and get information about their intentions and returned a different route.
The patrol spotted US trucks with German drivers. The patrol the next day
missed a massed German attack being formed less than one 100 yards away. The
returned a different route out of fear that the Germans would find their tracks
and wait in ambush for them to return. As they returned to their lines, the
patrol just missed a major German concentration that would attack their outpost
in a few hours.

Eldon describes Bruno
as a "great guy to have on outpost." One night during a German infiltration,
three Germans were shot but they turned out to be Americans. Bruno was eventually
killed in the outpost; Eldon found this out as his corpse was brought back
to the lines by stretcher. After that incident, Eldon described sitting in
his foxhole thinking of his chronic cold feet and the "entire situation."
Eldon realized that there was nothing he could do to remedy the problem. So
he promised himself that he would survive no matter what lay ahead in the
war.

On Jan. 3, 1945, a major
German attack hit I/502 lines. Three German tanks and many infantry hit the
lines. F/502 pulled back through I Company's lines in retreat during this
attack and Eldon described them as "beat up." The outpost was hit first by
the attack; one of the men in the outpost was suffering from shell shock and
ran past the rest in the rear. Another paratrooper named Wilson ran from the
outpost and the men called out for him to hit the ground and he fell. Eldon
crawled out along a fence line to try to help him but he was already dead,
shot in the back. He grabbed the corpse's M-1 carbine as Eldon could have
shot several Germans in the outpost but the gun was empty. The dead trooper
had expended all his ammunition and threw his grenades before he retreated
from the outpost. Because Eldon had hoped to retrieve Wilson, he had not brought
any weapons with him. As a result he returned to his position.

Eldon crawled back to
his slit trench as three SS tanks came over the ridge to the left of his slit
trench. The rest of the men in the position retreated leaving Eldon and his
assistant machine gunner Woodson the sole remaining men. The German tanks
were firing over the heads of the two men in the slit trench at the platoon's
command post, which was a house. An American armored vehicle called a tank
destroyer was speeding toward their position to intercept the German tank
attack. Lt. Tyree received a direct hit from an 88 shell fired from one of
the tanks. The tank destroyer was moving rapidly to a position where it could
fire at the tanks. It maneuvered to a position behind a house where it fired
knocking out one tank which burst into flames as the two remaining German
tanks reversed back over the hill.

Very little physically
was found of Tyree after the battle. A .50 caliber machine gun was operating
in front of Eldon's position, the German attack proved to be overwhelming
as the other troopers had left leaving only Eldon and Woodson with the machine
gun so they dismantled the gun because the tripod was frozen and threw the
pieces in some bushes in a field and retreated. Eldon too retreated in the
face of the massive attack, he grabbed a .45 Thompson Submachine gun and ran
along a road and quickly found himself among a large group of Germans. He
fired and cleared an area and killed several of the Germans in the way of
his retreat and those left had quickly moved out of Eldon's way. The group
then quickly devised a temporary line of resistance and another officer, 2nd
Lt. August arrived and demanded that the machine gun crew retrieve the .50
caliber pieces. Luckily the crew was able to and set up the gun to help stem
the German tide of advance.

The 101st was part of
the counterattack against the Germans after the siege of Bastogne was lifted.
Eldon's platoon was part of an attack up a ridge in the Ardennes during the
counterattack on Jan. 8, 1945. German artillery pounded them during their
advance. Eldon describes it as one of the worst he had ever suffered during
the entire war. Once the area was secured, Eldon and his assistant on the
.30 caliber machine gun were to set up the weapon along the ridge among some
trees. Unknown to Eldon and Woodson, a German machine gun crew was already
in the same woods and fired over their heads as snow and branches fell upon
them. Both of them hit the ground and Eldon returned fire with his M-1 carbine
and shot both the Germans in the head.

On Jan. 10, 1945, Eldon
went to a medical aid station. There he removed his boots and because his
feet were so swollen with frostbite, he was unable to put his boots back on.
He was evacuated to military hospital back in Luxembourg.

While Eldon was in Las
Vegas in March of 1995, he had a dream about Bastogne. He was wandering among
the trees as the fighting had ceased. Eldon was getting snow from the fir
branches to quench his thirst. There was a mist in the air and he had "the
most beautiful thing" in his hands although he did not know what it was. While
in the woods, Eldon came across some troopers who were sitting on a log about
two feet off the ground. Eldon did "not seem surprised to see Werner Lunde."
He came up behind Werner and Eldon put his arm around his neck. Werner peered
at Eldon over his right shoulder and gave him "his great smile" Werner then
stated, "Abe you made it." Eldon then asked what was in his hands and then
asked Werner if he had one? He responded, "yes we all have one and they are
beautiful." Eldon's dream ended as all the paratroopers including Werner Lunde
disappeared in the mist.

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